A 12-strong panel of experts, including three former Lions captains, Bill Beaumont, Phil Bennett and Finlay Calder were asked to nominate players on the basis of their ability and their personal contribution to the Lions. Correspondents, editors and contributors from both the Guardian and the Observer were also involved.

The process of coming up with a definitive top 50 didn't come easy. As rugby union correspondent, Robert Kitson describes:

Setting out to pick the best of the best from 125 years of British and Irish tours is, let's be honest, about as simple as ranking your closest friends in order of preference. Some meant more 30 years ago than they do now.

Kitson also explains some of the difficulties faced in comparing past and present players:

Those picked by the Lions in the last four decades, without giving too much away, have tended to attract proportionally more votes than those who did so in the 1930s, 1950s and 1960s. The game has changed so profoundly that, frankly, measuring the modern professional up against his amateur predecessors is harder than ever. We still hope you agree that identifying the top 50 players ever to represent Britain and Ireland remains great fun.

The ranking, which has slowly been revealed this week bit by bit is now published in full and the top 50 players ever to represent Britain and Ireland are listed below for you to view.

If we break down the top 50 by nationality, England and Wales dominate with 16 players each on the list. There are also nine Scottish and nine Irish players in the top 50.

The chart above shows how the rankings break down by position. The most common positions on the list are centre and fly-half, followed by lock and prop.

The 1974 Lions tour is the best represented with 14 appearances on the list, followed by 1971 with 11. 1977 and 1997 both have ten appearances each.

The full breakdown by nationality, position, Lions tour and Lions test record can be found in the downloadable spreadsheet along with points given by each judge. What do you think of the list and who do you think should be on there?